The Rams have officially announced the hiring of defensive coordinator Tim Walton. But the tenure of wide receiver Titus Young is over before it started.

League sources have confirmed earlier reports out of Detroit that Young will be cut by the Rams — just nine days after being claimed on waivers by St. Louis from the Lions.

Young had been at Rams Park just a couple of days this week — meeting team coaches and officials, taking a physical, etc. Apparently, that was enough for the Rams to decide it wasn’t going to work.

In the case of the Rams, better to find out now than the fourth quarter of a tie game in December. Financially, it was a low-risk proposition to begin with because Young was due a base salary of only $555,000, plus a roster bonus of $185,000 due at the start of training camp.

The view at Rams Park was that Young would have to earn his way into the lineup, and they would have the entire offseason — the team’s official offseason program starts April 15 — to observe and evaluate Young and see how he fit in.

Unlike some players, the problem with Young wasn’t off the field in Detroit, it was once he showed up for work. And given what took place this past season in Detroit, the Rams decision to claim him was both an act of supreme optimism that things would work out and a sign of desperation to upgrade their wide receiver corps.